Changed Yet Still the Same
by jassycatx33
Summary: Sequel to Adjusting to Life. Five years have passed and Katie-Marie has changed, but has she really? Rated T because I don't know there might be some violence of some sort.
1. Back Again

After so many long years, this was it. I, Katie-Marie, am finally returning to the place I call home. My friends that I had left behind, well I just hope they're still there. I left them behind almost five years ago, back when I was 13. I'm 18 now, my birthday was a few months ago. I've been packing and planning this trip ever since my birthday. Rachel, my sister, is coming with me for some reason.

Well the reason is probably because when we moved back here I feel into a sort of depression and wasn't taking care of myself so Rachel took on the role as older sister. She's still younger than me, she just acts older. I've changed so much in these five years.

I cut my hair short, that's a big thing, it's parted to the right and it's a bit longer on that side. The back and left side are cut in a pixie cut sort of fashion and my hair does this thing where it sort of poofs out. I enjoy it a lot more that I did my long hair. My fashion sense has also changed a little, I wear dresses and skirts more but that's because I perform. I'd have to say I still prefer my skinny jeans, tee shirt and hoodie, especially because it's winter. I also wear combat boots a lot now, I wear them more than anything. A black pair that go up to just about under my knee and have a lace up front and about a centimeter of a heel.

Not only that but I think I've changed personality-wise as well. I'm more shy, I tend to keep to myself more. However, I've pretty much always been like that. At the same time I'm a bit more excitable and crazy because I'm a performer now. Yeah, I perform like dancing and singing perform. I have this guy I work with, Joshua. He was the first friend I made when I moved back here and the only friend. I also adopted a cat though, a black cat with green eyes. I named her Pumpkin because it just seemed like an appropriate name. She's still really tiny, but I have to leave her here when I go to visit.

Rachel became super popular, basically the opposite of me. That's how it's always been though. Though there have been changes, I'm still the same old Katie-Marie I've always been.


	2. The Suspense is Killing Me

Yeah so I'm back again. The sequel to _Adjusting to Life_. I'm pretty happy with it so far, so I hope you enjoy~

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"Well, everything is packed. Looks like I'm ready to go!" I said joyfully, turning towards Joshua who was keeping my company while I packed. He looked like he was deep in thought about something, his dark eyebrows were furrowed and his hand was on his chin. "Hello, earth to Josh?" I said, waving my hand in front of him.

"Sorry... I was just thinking. Why don't I come with you? Just in case, you know? I don't want you driving alone." he said, his dark brown eyes staring into mine. I patted his head, his dark brown scruffy hair was something I liked to mess with.

"I'll be fine, you know that. You just want to come because you'll miss me." I said smugly, closing my suitcase and picking it up.

"While that may be true... I still think it's a valid argument for letting me come." he said, crossing his arms and pouting at me. I left my room and went into the hall.

"RACHEL, LET'S GO!" I called. "I won't even be alone, Rachel is coming with me remember?" I asked. Josh continued to pout at me. "Ugh, fine you can come if you can pack in like the next ten minutes." I stated. He blinked then ran out of the house. I shook my head at him and brought my stuff out to the car and put it in the trunk. Rachel came out of the house a couple seconds after me, on her phone texting someone.

"Put my stuff in the trunk for me, Kate?" she said, without looking up from her phone. I was going to argue but I really just wanted to hit the road so I picked up her twenty dozen bags, well that's an exaggeration but she had a lot, and put them in the trunk. I turned to walk towards Josh's house but he was already on his way back, with two bags in his hands.

"That was fast. Did you pack everything you needed?" I asked him, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course I did!" He replied, throwing his bags in the trunk as well. I rolled my eyes and laughed at him, he was such a loser sometimes.

"I call the backseat so I can nap!" I called, raising my hand in the air, I walked over to the car and climbed into the back seat. "You guys can discuss who is driving. Here are the directions." I added, holding up a paper with the directions on it. Josh looked at Rachel, who was still texting, and took the directions from my hand.

"Guess I'm driving." he said with a shrug. I smiled and stretched out comfortable across the back seat as Rachel climbed into the passenger's seat.

* * *

I slept for the majority of the ride because I was up anxious all the night before we left. Something about returning after so many years freaked me out because I wasn't sure how they'd feel about how I've changed. I know they'll be changed too, but I know I'll accept them anyways.

Finally, the car rolled to a stop and I heard Josh put it in park. I sat up so fast, I got dizzy for a second. I jumped out of the car, we were staying in Grammy's old house. I had called the town ahead of time to make the arrangements and such for us to stay there.

I wanted so badly to run to Zim's house, and Dib's house, and Leah's house... but I knew I had to bring my stuff inside. I opened the truck and grabbed my bags, rushing past Josh and Rachel to the house. I pulled out the key and unlocked the door, then I ran up to the room I stayed in all those years ago and threw my stuff on the floor. I unpacked as quickly as possible, putting all my things away in the closets and dressers.

Rachel poked her head into the room. "We need to go grocery shopping, Kate." she said blankly, watching me scurry about.

"Yeah I know. I just... can't you go without me?" I pleaded. She shook her head at me.

"You're picky, I need you to come and pick out the food you'll actually eat." she replied. I groaned and walked towards the door. We walked back down to the car where Josh was waiting and I climbed back into the back seat. I was just getting more and more anxious, we were here and I still hadn't seen them.

We did some grocery shopping and returned home. I helped to bring in the groceries and put them away.

"I have some unpacking to do." Rachel said simply, heading upstairs. I took out my phone, it was only 2:00 and I didn't have to make dinner until later. I ran towards the door.

"I'll be back in a bit. Josh... just make yourself at home or something." I yelled as I closed the door and ran down the street, I wasn't even sure where I was running at first. I just let my feet carry me where they wanted, and I realized they were taking me towards Zim's house.

There is was before me, the same as ever. That green and purple house with the lawn gnomes. I walked down the walkway towards the front door and lifted my hand to knock.

"Here goes nothing..." I whispered to myself and knocked loudly. My heart was beating so hard I could feel it throughout my whole body. I heard the doorknob turn and the door flung open. Gir was standing there, looking the same as ever just a bit more worn out. His eyes weren't as bright as they used to be, and he seemed a bit dented up, but other than that he seemed the same. He was so much smaller now that I've grown a bit.

"Gir? It's me... Ka-"

"KATIE!" he screamed, hugging my legs tightly.

"Oh!" I said in surprise, when he finally let go I bent down so I could hug him properly. "Oh, Gir I've missed you!" I choked out, while trying to hold back tears of joy. When I pulled back I smiled at him. "Is Zim around?" I asked, biting my lip.

"Mastah's in the lab!" he said in that same goofy little voice. I smiled and stood up, walking towards the kitchen. It had changed a little bit, now next to the toilet there was simply an elevator type thing.

"Awe, he must've outgrown the toilet." I said, smiling and walking into the elevator. Gir accompanied me and mashed some buttons and off we sped, down towards the lab. Once we reached the bottom the doors opened and Gir took my hand.

"Come on Katie, I'll take you to mastah." he said, and he began to lead me down a long path. So I followed, my heart beating loudly the whole time. I was finally going to see Zim again after all these years, and my heart could barely contain my excitement.

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I hope you enjoyed. I'm getting excited just writing this. Chapter 3 is going to be quite the something to write but I'm excited to do it. ^-^


	3. Old Friends

Three chapters in one day (or night for me) what is this madness? I got really into writing it I guess. I'm really happy with it so far and I'm proud of myself for getting back into writing it so yay. I hope you enjoy.

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Gir led me down what felt like the longest path in the work and then I saw him. Zim was moving around a figure, some sort of contraption. He definitely got taller. He seemed to have aged like a normal human, which is good. He looked the same except he was a lot taller, taller than me that's for sure.

I didn't know what to do or what to say, I stood there staring at him for a good 30 seconds before Gir piped up.

"MASTA GUESS WHO CAME HOME?!" Gir yelled, startling Zim a bit.

"Gir, what did I tell you about yelling while I'm working?" he asked, sounding a bit annoyed. His voice sounded the same, maybe a tad deeper. He seemed flustered about something.

"But..." Gir said sadly.

"Gir-" Zim started, but he finally looked towards us. He seemed shocked at first, then he looked angry, then confused. He made several different expressions before walking a bit closer. "Kat-Human?" he questioned.

"Yay, you got it right!" Gir said happily, clapping for Zim. I nodded eagerly, glad to see that he still recognized me.

"I came back, like I promised." I said with a nervous laugh, searching his face for a reaction. I opened my mouth to speak again but Zim suddenly hugged me. I was confused but happy, and I hugged him back tightly, holding back tears of joy. "I guess you're happy to see me, then?" I giggled as he let go of me. He didn't reply, he simply began to walk towards the elevator.

"Follow me Kat-Human." he said, so I followed him. We went up the elevator and out the front door. He took me all the way to another familiar house, it was Dib's. He knocked on the door, he had a bit of a smirk on his face. It was Gaz who answered the door.

"What do you want?" she asked, sounding irritated.

"I wish to see the Dib." Zim stated boldly. I rolled my eyes, I sure missed the way he worded things so weirdly. Gaz sighed with annoyance.

"Dib your weird friends are here!" she yelled. I heard footsteps and then Dib was at the door.

"What do you want Z-" he stopped mid-sentence as he noticed me standing next to Zim, who had crossed his arms and had a smug grin on his face.

"I told you Kat-Human would come back." Zim said smugly. Dib blinked and pushed Zim out of the way to hug me. I laughed and hugged him back.

"It's nice to know I was missed." I said, laughing a bit more. Dib let go after a while.

"I had no idea you were coming back... I... this is so... wow." Dib stammered. He also looked the same, just a bit taller. That little hair spikey had also grown out and somehow was a zigzag, which was both cool and annoying because how does it even do that? We stood in an awkward silence for a bit.

"I like the new hair, by the way." Dib pointed out. I smiled and reached up to brush my bang with my fingers like I did so often.

"Thanks... I missed you guys so much." I said with another laugh. "Is Leah around?" I asked, hoping to see her as well.

"She went off to college in a different state. She still comes back on her breaks, though. I'm sure you'll see her. Wait... how long are you staying?" Dib asked.

"As long as I can." I replied, looking towards the house. "I'm living in the same house. Rachel came with me, and my friend Josh." I added.

"Josh? When did you meet him?" Dib asked.

"When I moved back to my old town. He became my only friend." I said with a shrug. "I'm not good at being popular like Rachel." I said with a sigh.

"Is he... better than us?" Dib asked, sounding a bit sad.

"What? Are you insane?" I asked, turning to face them again. "No one could ever replace you guys, if that's what you're asking. He's a very good friend, but not as good as you guys." I said with a large grin on my face. This made Dib smile, too. Zim wore that same expression he always did, where he looked kind of mad about something.

"Do you guys want to come back to my house for dinner or something?" I asked, bouncing on my toes from excitement.

"Sure, I'd love to!" Dib said enthusiastically. I turned towards Zim, bouncing on my toes a bit still.

"Fine, I don't like the pathetic Earth food, though." he said dismissively. I frowned at him.

"Oh please. You've only had the nasty food around here. I make homemade meals. They're better." I stated, poking him in the arm. I took both of their hand and walked back towards my house.

Once we got there, I opened the door and led them inside. "You guys can get comfy somewhere or something. RACHEL I'M HOME!" I yelled.

"Whatever!" she called back. Josh was watching tv in the living room, but he turned around when he heard me come in.

"Oh, okay guys meet Josh my friend. Josh, this is Zim and Dib, also my friends." I said, bouncing on my toes with excitement again. "Alright, I'm going to make some dinner." I said. Dib and Zim followed me into the kitchen and sat down at the table. I smiled and shook my head at them, they must feel a bit awkward I guessed.

"I'm making spaghetti, tonight. Unfortunately, I'm feeling lazy so we'll have to use tomato sauce from a jar." I said, pulling it out of the cabinet. I put a pot of water on the stove and turned on the heat, waiting for it to boil. I sat down at the table with Dib and Zim.

"You guys are so quiet. I want to know all about what went on after I left!" I said excitedly.

"Well, we stopped hanging out and so did Leah. We all went our separate ways. I continued to study science from my dad and a bit about supernatural things. I may or may not have fallen into a sort of depression after you left and may or may not have said you were never coming back." Dib said with a nervous chuckle.

"You silly boy. Look at your hair. That's ridiculous." I said, shaking my head with a smile."How does it even... it just... how?" I asked, he laughed. "Also, your head is the right size for your body now!" I said with excitement.

"It always was!" Dib replied defensively.

"Mhm, okay, sure." I said, sticking my tongue out at him. I turned to Zim, now. "Okay, and you? What did you do?" I asked, staring at him with interest.

"Same thing I always did. Tried to think of ways to destroy this horrid planet. It was hard without my human slave to help me." he said nonchalantly.

"Oh pfft. I am not your slave! And you have Gir!" I replied, smiling at him.

"Gir isn't... you." Zim said with a shrug. I laughed at him, blushing a bit.

"You and your shrugging." I shook my head. I stood up to see the water boiling and put the spaghetti in.

"Dinner will be ready pretty soon so everyone wash up and grab a seat!" I called throughout the house. This was how I wanted things to be all the time.

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I never know how I want to end the chapter, it's so hard to decided how to end it. It's so weird. Anyways, hope you enjoyed it. Hopefully will have a chapter 4 up tomorrow or at least pretty soon.


	4. Awkward Rekindling of Friendships

I hate naming chapters it's so hard ): So yeah, I decided to post a new one of these woo hoo. Might add another tonight I have no idea. Who even reads this? Well, I'm posting them anyways lol

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I had served dinner and now we were all sitting at the small little table, some people were standing. Well it was me and Josh standing because I insisted that Zim and Dib sit because they were guests and Rachel is a princess so I knew I'd be standing. Thankfully, Josh volunteered to stand as well.

"I hope everyone liked it." I said as everyone lined up to place the dirty dishes in the sink.

"It was great! Thanks Katie." Dib said appreciatively. Rachel, who continued to text, walked by without a word. She didn't even greet Dib or Zim.

"Delicious as always, Kate." Josh said, he had eaten my cooking several times before.

"I despise human food." Zim said as he placed his dish in the sink. "But, your food is tolerable." he added, looking at me.

"Oh, you sure know how to make a girl feel better about herself." I replied sarcastically.

"Yes, yes. But you're my servant so I don't have to be nice to you." he said back.

"Oh please. You're still my friend. So you are nice to me." I said accusingly to him. He simply shrugged at me. "Loser." I said, taking his hand and leading him towards my door. I passed by Dib and grabbed him by the ear.

"Come outside with me!" I said in a sing-song kind of voice. I dragged them outside and laid down on the ground. "Remember when we did this?" I whispered as they laid on the ground next to me. We laid there staring up at the cloudy sky, always so dark and depressing. Yet I'd never been happier.

"Ya know, I really missed you." Dib said randomly, breaking the silence. I turned towards him and smiled.

"I missed you, too. Both of you." I said, glancing quickly at Zim. "I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to come back but I did and I'm so happy I did." I said. "We sure had some crazy adventures... and I almost died. I was kind of dumb back then, wasn't I?" I asked, although I was just babbling at this point.

"All of you humans are dumb in comparison to the mighty Irkens." Zim replied.

"Oh shut up, you." I said with a laugh. I sighed and sat up, looking around. "Is Leah still around?" I asked suddenly.

"She went off to college, actually. She comes back on her breaks though." Dib replied as he sat up as well.

"Oh." I said sadly, I missed her too. "Why didn't you go to college, big head? You're so smart." I asked Dib. He rolled his eyes at the 'big head' comment.

"I wanted to stay here and focus on just doing the science instead of going to college. My dad is already a professor so it feels kind of useless to go to college." he explained.

"Fair enough." I said with a shrug. It was getting pretty dark by now.

"I should probably head home. I'll see you tomorrow, though." Dib said with a smile as he stood up.

"Help me up please!" I said, sticking up my hands. He laughed and grabbed my hands, pulling me to my feet. I hugged him and smiled. "See you tomorrow then." I said. He ran home, turning back once to wave.

By this time, Zim had already gotten to his feet. I turned to him and smiled brightly.

"Kat-Human... I have to tell you something important... you remember the tallest, yes?" He asked, I nodded my head yes. "Yes, it seems they lost interest in getting me back to foodcourtia a long while back. They said they would leave me here on Earth but they don't care if I destroy it or not. They don't even care if I'm alive." he said, and he actually sounded quite sad.

"Oh... Zim I'm sorry." I said, not knowing what else to do I simply hugged him. I know how much it meant for him to be an invader and to be able to destroy Earth and win the love of the tallest and whatnot. "You... you don't need them. They're stupid if they say that. You can just stay here with me!" I said defiantly, I actually felt pretty angry towards the tallest now. Not that I could do anything but stand here and be mad at them.

"Kat-human, you're..." Zim said, but he seemed not to know how to finish the sentence.

"Listen Zim, I have something important to say, too. I know you don't care for human affection and whatnot but..."

"Hey Katie, it's getting pretty late. Aren't you tired? Oh your friend is still here..." Josh had interrupted my sentence. I sighed and looked down at the ground.

"Yeah. Yeah it's late, you're right. I'll be right in." I replied, looking back up at Zim. Josh returned inside and I sighed. "I'll... tell you tomorrow. Goodnight Zim." I said quietly, hugging him once more before retreating indoors. I went upstairs and went right to bed without another word, yet I stayed awake for hours staring at the ceiling and thinking.

The next day I woke up early, despite having stayed up pretty late the previous night. I got up and showered, I put on a cute little dress with stockings and my favorite combat boots and headed downstairs. I made some waffles and waited for my sister and Josh to wake up. I sat at the table and ate some of the waffles while listening to some music on my phone. I don't know how long I sat there alone but eventually I heard someone moving around upstairs, it was already 9:30 so I was pleased someone else was up. Suddenly there was a knock at the door that made me jump, I pulled my earbuds out and went to answer.

"Dib? What are you doing here so early?" I asked once I opened the door to see Dib standing there.

"I... well I was just excited to come see you. I mean, it's been five years..." Dib said, he sounded so awkward. I laughed and hugged him tightly.

"Okay, let's hang out today. Come in for a second I have to wait for someone else to wake up so I can let them know I'm going out." I explained, I took his hand and brought him inside. I sat down on the couch in the living room and he sat down next to me. We made small talk for a while about what town has been like for the past few years until someone came downstairs, it was Rachel.

"Oh Rachel, you're awake, good." I said, hopping up off the couch. "Dib is here, we're going out for a while okay? Um, do you know if Josh is up? I feel rude leaving him around here all the time but I need this one day for my friends okay? Alright, well I made waffles so you can go enjoy those. See you later." I rambled senselessly to my sister. I turned to Dib and took his hand, "okay, let's go." I said with a smile, and led him out of the house.

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Well I hope you enjoyed. I hope my writing has improved since Adjusting to Life, or maybe it hasn't. I don't know o.o


	5. Katie and Being Awkward

Sorry this chapter is kind of short but I really wanted to put out another tonight before I go to sleep. I hope you enjoy!

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Dib and I simply walked around town for the majority of the day, he took me to lunch and we even went to the arcade for a bit. It was really lovely, I realized how much I had missed him. "Well I guess I should head home now. It was nice seeing you again Katie." Dib said smiling as he left me at my door.

"Yeah, I really missed you Dib. I'm glad to be back here again." I said, I gave him a hug and kissed his cheek. He put his hand up and gently touched where I kissed him before turning and heading towards his house. I watched him until he was out of sight then I ran towards Zim's house.

Once I reached Zim's house I knocked lightly and waited for someone to answer. "KATIE!" I heard an enthusiastic Gir greeting as the door was flung open. I suddenly felt the cold, metal embrace of Gir and I loved it.

"Hello Gir!" I said excitedly as I hugged him back. He was significantly smaller than me now, I had come to realized, even though I hadn't really grown too much. "Is Zim around?" I asked as we released the hug.

"Mastah's in the lab." Gir replied. I smiled and patted his head before heading over to the elevator and going down to the lab. Once I reached the lab I walked down the long path and saw Zim working on something. I cleared my throat awkwardly and Zim seemed startled, he jumped and spun around.

"Hi there." I said with a tiny smile.

"Oh, it's you Kat-Human." he said, seeming relieved. "What are you doing here?" He questioned.

"Visiting my friend, dummy. The mighty invader Zim?" I said walking towards him. "I saw Dib all day and then realized I haven't seen you much since I got here." I explained. He said nothing, he simply stared at me. "Hello? Earth to Zim?" I joked, waving my hand in front of his face. "Come hang out with me!" I whined playfully.

"Mighty invaders don't have time for hanging out." he said dismissively, turning back to what he was working on.

"Oh please, not even when it's to hang out with someone they haven't seen for five years?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"Nope, not even that." he replied. I let out a sigh and walked over to him, peeking over his shoulder. "What are you doing, Kat-Human?" he asked, glancing at me.

"I'm bored. I need you to entertain me."I said simply, with an innocent shrug.

"... You're not going to leave me alone until I hang out with you, are you?" he asked.

"Nope." I replied happily, knowing I broke him.

"Fine, let's go." he said, putting down whatever he was working on, some kind of alien technology type thing. I squealed with excitement and grabbed his hand, running down the path to the elevator.

We went back up into the house and towards the door. "I'll be back later, Gir." he called as I dragged him out the door.

"Okay, where should we go?" I asked him excitedly.

"You were the one who wanted to go out, I have no idea." Zim replied with a shrug. I pouted at him for a couple seconds. "Oh fine, want to go get some repulsive Earth food?" he asked. I smiled at him and nodded.

We got some dinner and went to see a movie, a really terrible movie at that. It was fun though, we were able to judge and laugh at the movie. I remembered how much I missed Zim, too. Him and Dib were so important to me. I wished I could see Leah soon but for now hanging out with Zim and Dib would be enough.

Zim was walking with me back to my house, I made him hold my hand because it brought me comfort. He was surprisingly cooperative about it, though. I wasn't sure what time it was because it was dark out. We got to my house and I stood there for a while looking at the door.

"Kat-Human, are you going to go inside?" he asked me after a minute or so. I turned to him, my brain was thinking like crazy, but I smiled and let out a small laugh.

"Um yeah, sorry. I was just... thinking. Yeah, okay I should head inside. Thanks Zim, I really missed you." I said happily, I gave him a tight hug and was surprised to have him hug back. Without thinking I kissed him on the cheek too, I had forgotten that he was Zim, and not Dib, and he might not be so okay with it. Flustered, I quickly opened the door and headed inside, "goodnight, Zim." I squeaked before closing the door.

"You were out pretty late." I heard a voice say, I was so startled I actually screamed. "Woah, calm down it's just me." Josh said, coming over to me.

"Oh, gosh you scared me." I said, smacking him playfully on the arm.

"I can tell." he said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, sorry. I've just been hanging with my old friends. I really missed them." I explained with a grin. "Don't worry, I can show you around tomorrow or something." I said with a grin. "I'm going to head to bed though, I'm exhausted." I added.

"Oh, okay. Well goodnight." he said. I ran upstairs and headed into my room. Today was so eventful, I didn't really know how to process it.

I put on my pj's and laid down on my bed but I didn't actually fall asleep for hours because I couldn't stop thinking about everything that happened today. "What is wrong with me?" I asked myself before covering my face with my pillow and eventually falling asleep.

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Hope you enjoyed! If anyone has suggestions or anything that would be cool because I'm kind of like coming up with random things and I need to plot twist or something like I don't really know where I'm going with this story and if I run out of ideas I might just discontinue it /: Anyways, hope anyone who is reading is enjoying it!


	6. Katie's Secret is Revealed

Okay, I don't know this chapter is kind of weird I guess? I'm hoping that the next chapter will be better. Anyways, I still hope you enjoy reading.

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The next morning I woke up and did my daily morning routine. I was surprised, however, to see Josh already awake and eating breakfast when I cam downstairs. "Oh, I didn't think anyone would be up." I said in surprise, Josh looked up at me and smiled.

"Well I decided that if we were going to hang out today I should wake up early, like you." Josh replied. I smiled and grabbed a bowl and some cereal. I sat down and ate my breakfast with Josh. "I called around a bit and I found a gig for us today." Josh said suddenly, I almost choked on my cereal.

"Oh my gosh, um okay I guess. I didn't think we'd perform at all while we're here. My friends don't even know that I perform." I said, distressed.

"What? Oh come on, we're getting payed pretty good for it." he added.

"... okay fine." I said, standing up and washing my dishes. I took Josh's as well and walked over towards the door. "Alright, let's head out then. When is the gig anyways?" I asked.

"At 1." Josh replied.

"Oh, so we have like 3 hours? Alright, well let's go!" I said, opening the door. I nearly bumped into someone as I walked outside though. "Eep!" I squeaked, backing up a bit and looking up to see Dib. "Dib!" I said excitedly, tackling him into a hug.

"Katie, jeez you've become quite affectionate." Dib said with a laugh as he hugged me back.

"I can't help it, I missed you and I just get excited every time I see you." I said. "Have you seen Zim yet today?" I asked.

"No, he's probably doing something evil and alien in his lab." Dib replied.

"Oh, yeah. Well this is my friend Josh." I said, moving so that they could shake hands. "Josh, this is Dib a.k.a. Big head." I added with a smirk.

"Ha ha, you're hilarious." Dib said sarcastically.

"I know, I'm a comic genius." I replied, touching his nose and then skipping past him. "Let's go get Zim so I can hang out with all of my boys at the same time." I sang out excitedly, nearly running towards Zim's house. However, I was surprised to see Zim already coming out of the house and walking towards me. "Zim!" I squealed with excitement, crashing into him and hugging him.

"Kat-Human?" Zim sounded confused but hugged me back.

"Of course silly, who else would hug you like that?" I asked with a laugh. "Okay, come on you're going to hang out with me, Dib and Josh today." I said, taking his hand and heading back towards Dib and Josh who I had left behind when I ran to Zim's house.

"You're quite bossy you know, minions can't boss around their masters." Zim said nonchalantly.

"Oh shut up, you... you... Irken." I replied in an attempt to insult him. We then got back to Josh and Dib. "Okay guys, let's go get pizza and ice cream. So you can all get to know each other." I said happily. I walked down the street talking on and on about random things and keeping hold of Zim's hand the whole time. When we got to the pizza shop we got a table together and ordered some pizza.

"Ah, my four boys. This is great, all of us together. Except I need to run to the ladies' room really quick. No one eat my pizza while I'm gone." I warned, getting up and heading towards the restroom. I concluded my business and came out just in time for the pizza. I headed back to the table and sat back down. Zim and Dib exchanged some kind of look as I did so, but I didn't really think much of it.

We all ate our pizza and I blabbered on for a long time telling Josh about Zim and Dib, and Zim and Dib about Josh. We were there for a while until Josh looked at his watch. "Wow, we should probably get going if we want to get to that gig." he said.

"Oh yeah... the gig." I said awkwardly, Zim and Dib looked at me in confusion.

"Gig?" Dib asked.

"Heh... I forgot to tell you guys that I perform now." I replied innocently.

"We're coming to watch." Dib replied automatically.

"Please no, oh my gosh that's embarrassing. You guys are going to be weird about it." I whined, but Dib simply stood up and threw away his trash.

"It's already decided." he said with a shrug.

"Yes, it will be interesting to see this Kat-Human." Zim said smugly.

"I hate you guys." I muttered, walking out of the place with Josh. Zim and Dib followed behind us. "What song are we doing?" I asked Josh.

"What song do you want to do?" he asked.

"Hm... I think we should do Dance, Dance. I like that one." I replied.

"I know you do."

"I'm nervous."

"You're always nervous before a gig. When the music starts you always get into it." Josh said with a laugh. It was true, I tended to get very into the music.

When we got to the place, it was some kind of club I guess, we went inside and headed into the back while Zim and Dib got seats. Josh and I did some stretching to get ready for the performance. Then some people helps us put on those microphones that stay in your ear so you can move around. After a few minutes a man came in and told us we were up. Out onto the stage we went, it was pitch black. I got into position and waited for the music to start, my heart was beating so hard I could feel it.

When the music started I suddenly lost all my nervousness, I put my heart into singing and dancing it out with Josh. I fell comfortably into step with him and we put on quite a performance to where we were both pretty sweaty by the end. We bowed and headed backstage to take our equipment off and get our pay. Then we headed out towards the exit and were greeted by many compliments from the audience, then I saw Zim and Dib who both had stupid smirks on their faces. I stomped over to them.

"Don't look at me like that you freaks." I pouted and crossed my arms.

"What? I was just going to say it was good and you looked amazing up there!" Dib said. I didn't move from my position.

"I don't understand this stupid pig-human performance stuff..." Zim said dismissively. "But, you were pretty good even for Irken standards, Kat-Human." Zim said, quietly. I couldn't help it, he broke my stubborn demeanor and I hugged them both tightly.

"Ugh you losers, now you know my secret. I never planned on telling you guys. It's a different side of me, very physical." I said in a defeated tone.

"You're very good at it." Dib replied. Josh had come over to join us now.

"We were pretty good up there." he said to me, I smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, they might invite us back again." I said. "Well I'm tired. Let's head home, I need to rest for a bit." I turned to Zim and Dib. "Come with me?" I pleaded.

"I can't say no to that face." Dib said with a laugh. I turned to Zim with hopeful eyes and inched closer towards he.

"I have no choice, do I Kat-Human?" he asked.

"Nope!" I said with a huge grin, and I swear I saw him give a small smile too. "Also, you have to carry me." I added.

"Oh please, what kind of slave are you?" Zim said back.

"One that you do favors for." I replied, walking towards him. He sighed in defeat, bending down a bit so I could climb onto his back. "This brings back memories, huh?" I asked, turning my head and leaning it against the back of Zim's. We walked back to my house and we all went inside.

"You guys hungry?" I asked.

"Yep."

"Yeah."

"Mhm."

"What do you want to eat? I can make grilled cheese." I offered. I head a collective response of okay. I made us all some grilled cheese and we all ate it together at the table.

"I'm going to go change really quick." Josh said when he finished. Dib and Zim both watched until he was out of the room, then they exchanged a look and turned to me.

"Josh is kinda... strange." Dib said to me.

"What? What do you mean by that?" I asked, a bit offended.

"Well... at the pizza place when you went to the bathroom, he threatened Zim and I." he said.

"What? Oh come on, Josh wouldn't do that. He's a sweetheart. I know you guys are kind of jealous but I still love you both." I said.

"I'm serious, tell her Zim!" Dib said, sounding upset now.

"Kat-Human, he's a human filth pig." Zim said.

"Um, you say that about everyone." I said, not convinced. "Guys, Josh is very important to me. He's my partner and close friend. I don't appreciate this." I said disapprovingly. Dib opened his mouth to say more but Josh came back into the room.

"Let's go watch some tv." I said, deciding I'd like to forget about the conversation we just had. We all headed into the living room. We only had one couch in there, so Josh, Dib and Zim all sat down and I looked at them. Then I decided to lay down across the three of them, my head in Zim's lap and my feet in Josh's lap. I turned on the tv and browsed through the channels until I found something decent to watch. However I must have fallen asleep and when I woke up, I was simply laying on the couch.

"Hm, I wonder where they went." I said, sitting up and rubbing my eyes. However, I was so tired I decided to just head upstairs to bed. "I'll see them tomorrow." I said as I laid down and fell asleep again.

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Alright well I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It's dumb. So um next chapter will be better I hope? o.o Review, if you want.


	7. Dib is Acting Kinda Strange

So I didn't think I was ever going to update this but someone left a really nice review and since I have up to chapter 9 written I figured I might as well continue to post. This story is kinda bad and I forget where I originally planned for the plot to go but I'm going to try and just finish this story if I can. Thank you to anyone who posts nice reviews on this!

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The next day I woke up later than usual, but that didn't stop me from conducting my usual morning routine. I got up and showered, then headed downstairs where Rachel and Josh were at the table already. "Morning." I said cheerfully.

"Hey!" Josh replied with a huge grin. Rachel, who wasn't on her phone for once, looked up at me then returned to eating her food. "You hungry? I can make you something." Josh offered.

"Nah, I'll just have cereal." I said, retrieving a bowl and the box of Apple Jacks from the cabinet. I poured myself some cereal, added milk, grabbed a spoon and sat down.

"So, what are you doing today?" Josh asked. I shrugged as I took a bite of cereal.

"I'm not sure. Maybe hang out with Dib and Zim again or something." I replied. Josh said nothing, so I finished eating my cereal. "Did you want to practice a little?" I asked as I stood up to wash my dishes.

"Yes!" Josh replied excitedly. I smiled and finished washing my dishes.

"Alright, let's go!" I exclaimed.

"Where?"

"Outside... I guess."

"How are we going to play music?"

"Phones, silly." I tapped him on the head with a smile. We headed into the front yard and I put on some of the music we usually perform to on my phone.

We practiced for what felt like hours and we cleared through my whole playlist of dance songs. "Wow, that was a pretty hardcore practice." I said, wiping my head with the back of my hand. I looked up at the sky and saw clouds. "Looks like it's going to rain. Darn..." I commented, thinking that Zim couldn't come outside if it was raining unless he had an umbrella or something. I decided that maybe I would just go hang out at his house for a bit or something.

"Kate. Kate? Hello?" Josh was calling, I snapped out of my thought bubble.

"Huh? Oh, sorry I was just thinking." I said with a laugh. "Want to head inside for now? Looks like rain is coming." I added, Josh nodded and began picking up our things.

"Oh my gosh, no way. Katie!" someone squealed from behind me, and I knew exactly who it was. I spun around to face Leah, she looked almost exactly the same yet different. My only reaction was to squeal and run to her.

"LeahohmygoshImissedyousomuch!" I yelled into her ear as I hugged her tightly.

"IknowIcan'tbelieveyou'rehere!" she yelled back. We stood like that for a while just hugging and squealing "I missed you" over and over. It was probably really annoying but when you're best friends with someone, these sorts of things just happen. Finally we stepped back to look at each other and talk like normal people.

"Katie, I absolutely love that hair cut. How are you?" Leah said, she had a giant smile on her face.

"I'm great, I've been back for a couple of days now and I was so hoping to see you! How is college life treating you?" I asked. We stood there for a while as she told me about how she was going into computer science and learning how to program and all of this amazing smart stuff. "I'm just so proud right now." I said when she finished, starting to tear up a bit.

"You're such a mom sometimes." Leah said with a laugh. I laughed too and then remembered Josh was still out here.

"Oh! Leah, this is Josh. He's my friend from... where I went when I left. Josh this is Leah!" I said with pure excitement.

"Hey." Josh said awkwardly, I felt kind of bad to be somewhat ignoring him. However, it felt justified when I realized these are people I haven't seen in five years.

"Okay, I really want to spend more time with you but I need to go home for a bit. I'll come by later!" Leah said, we hugged again and she went on her way.

"You sure had a lot of friends here." Josh said with an awkward laugh.

"Only three, but they were the best friends I ever made." I replied.

"Oh... yeah."

"And of course, you too!" I added, smiling brightly at him. "Come on, let's go inside and watch some tv or something." I said.

We headed inside and watched tv for a while, and it did begin to rain. I wondered if Leah would still come over if it was raining, but a knock on the door interrupted my thought. I jumped up and ran to open it, tripping on the way there and quickly getting back up to turn the doorknob.

"Leah- oh, Dib!" I exclaimed, a little less excited than before but still very happy to see him.

"Is Leah back in town?" he asked, sounding slightly confused.

"Oh yeah I saw her earlier... oh my gosh come in you're soaked!" I said, pulling him inside and closing the door. "You didn't have an umbrella, I still see that big head doesn't have a big brain hm?" I asked.

"Haha, that joke is just as funny as it was the first time, which is not at all." Dib replied. I laughed and hugged him, despite the fact that he soaking wet. "Do you want some dry clothes?" I asked. "I'm sure Josh has something that would fit you."

"No, no. That's okay. I'm fine, really." Dib said. I shrugged and took his hand, leading him into the living room.

"You can't sit unless you have dry clothes, though." I said. "Hey Josh, mind if Dib borrows some dry clothes?" I asked.

"Sure, no problem. I'll go grab something." he replied and he went upstairs to his room.

"Katie, you didn't have to do that. Really, I could have stood." Dib said.

"Why? It's no problem. Also, that would just be awkward and I'd feel bad. Plus I need you to sit next to me so I can lean on you, duh." I stated, flicking his head.

"But-" Dib started but Josh came back down the stairs and handed Dib some clothes.

"Go change, okay? And just bring me the wet clothes when you're done, I'll put them in the dryer." I said. Dib sighed and went to change, I shook my head. Why was he so adamant about not getting dry clothes? I shrugged and sat back down with Josh to watch tv until Dib came back.

A couple minutes later Dib came out in the brightest colors I've ever seen him in, a white shirt and jeans. I couldn't help but giggle a little bit... or a lot.

"What? What's so funny?" Dib said defensively.

"Nothing, nothing. It's just, I've never seen you wear something like this." I said as I stood up and took his wet clothing from him.

"Well I guess I'll just stick to wearing what I'm used to then." he replied.

"Oh don't worry, you look cute." I said as I brought his clothes down the hall to the laundry room and threw them in the dryer. I came back to Dib standing awkwardly where I left him, "you know you can sit now right?" I asked him with a laugh.

"Oh yeah, right." he said, he sat down on the opposite side of the couch from Josh and I plopped down in between them. I leaned my head onto Dib's shoulder and we all sat like this for hours, just watching the tv.


	8. Stuff Starts Getting Weird

Idk this story is trash but I'm having fun writing again so whoever reads this I hope you enjoy reading. Also I'm sorry the chapter names suck I'm too lazy to come up with something good lol.

* * *

I must have fallen asleep again but this time when I woke up Dib was still there, and he was asleep as well. Josh had disappeared and the tv was off. Actually, it seemed like all the lights were out in the house as well as on the streets. There was still a sliver of sunlight left, but it would probably be gone soon.

"Dib, wake up." I murmured, shaking him softly.

"Huh? What? Ghosts?" Dib jumped up.

"Calm down, it's just me. Ghosts?" I said with a smirk.

"...shut up." he replied. "Hey, it's so dark. Where are the lights?"

"I think the storm must have caused the power to go out or something." I said as I stood up and yawned. "It's not even nighttime yet though, I think we have flashlights somewhere." I began to make my way towards the kitchen. Once I got in there I tried to find the sink, I think we keep the flashlight in the cabinet underneath there.

"Katie, I have to tell you something. It's very important." Dib said suddenly from behind me.

"I'm all ears, what's up?" I said as I opened the cabinet and pulled the flashlight out. No batteries though, figures. I began searching through the drawers.

"Don't get mad at me but... I think this has something to do with Josh." he said.

"What? The power outage?"

"There's something... off about him. He's just-"

"Dib. Please, don't. I know you and Zim are jealous or something but there's nothing wrong with Josh. He was my best friend for five years. He stopped me from doing something I'd regret and I'm thankful to him for that. He's a good friend." I said sternly, I found some batteries and crammed them into the flashlight. I turned it on and shined it at Dib who was now pretending to be interested in the patterns on the counter.

I sighed, I couldn't even stay mad at him for two minutes. I was still slightly annoyed but this just made me want to go see Zim. Which logically makes no sense since he's probably the person who annoys me the most, but I had a sudden urge to go see him.

"I'll go see if your clothes are dry." I said.

"Do you want me to leave?" he asked, a hint of sadness in his voice.

"No!" I said quickly. "No, I definitely don't want that." I heard him breathe a sigh of relief. I took his clothes out of the dryer and handed them to him. "Just put your normal clothes back on, I want to go see Zim and you have to come because you made me upset." I handed him the flashlight as well. "I'll wait outside, just come out when you're done."

We parted ways and I went outside, it wasn't raining anymore, but it was very dark out. There weren't even any stars or a moon in the sky. Dib came out within a few minutes, I was very glad to see him back in his normal clothing. "Okay, to Zim's we go!" I announced, linking arms with Dib as we walked towards Zim's house.

As we got closer to Zim's house an ominous feeling rose in my chest, something felt wrong. I began running, pulling Dib with me. "Katie why are we running?" he asked.

"Something's... wrong..." I explained. "I don't know what, but I just know that something is." I didn't even knock when we got there, I didn't have to. The door was already open, the gnomes on the lawn weren't moving. "Zim! Gir! Hello?" I called into the house, it was dark and eerie inside. "The lab maybe, but how could we get down there if the power is out?"

"Doesn't he have some alien technology? Shouldn't this all be powered by that?" Dib asked.

"I guess, but it doesn't seem like it's working either. Something else took the power out, it wasn't the storm." I said walking towards the elevator. "Okay so whatever is causing the power to be out is also affecting Zim's technology. So maybe it's some other alien force? But what?" I said, pacing the floor in Zim's kitchen.

"You're kind of adorable when you're being smart." Dib commented.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"What do you think is going on?"

"I think that the alien force is definitely a possibility."

"Can you get us down to the lab?"

"Do you even have to ask that?" he walked over to the elevator and pried the doors apart, then he began messing with buttons and such, eventually getting the elevator running.

"How did you... actually never mind. I don't need to know." I said shaking my head as Dib smiled triumphantly. When the elevator reached the lab I grabbed Dib's hand and ran out. "Zim! Gir! Hello?!" I called frantically. After a moment I spotted movement and pulled Dib as I rushed over to see Gir and Zim tied up.

"Zim what... are you okay?" I asked kneeling down and untying them. Zim held his head for a moment and looked up at me.

"Kat-human?" he said.

"Yes. What happened?" I asked, shining the light at him. "OH! Zim you're hurt!" I said, looking at a large bump on his head. "And... what's wrong with Gir? What's going on?" I asked, my heart felt like it was beating a million miles a minute.

"Katie, calm down. You're shaking." Dib stated, putting his hand on my shoulder. He was right, I was shaking. Zim stood up and gently took the flashlight from my hand, walking over to some weird technology looking stuff. Dib put his arm around my waist and led me over to where Zim went.

"Someone infiltrated my GENIOUS base and knocked the mighty ZIM out." Zim announced. "They messed with my computer, which is the cause of the power loss which seems to be affect Gir as well." he added.

"It's affecting the whole neighborhood. Can you fix it?" Dib asked, he sounded genuinely worried. I had buried my head in Dib's shoulder for comfort, his arms wrapped around me.

"Don't be stupid, of course I can fix it. I am ZIM!" Zim replied, I could hear him pressing a lot of buttons. We all stood there for a few minutes in silence, Zim typing away at something. Dib gently drawing circles on my back with his finger, while I idly tugged at the collar of his jacket.

Suddenly the whole lab lit up and I lifted my head looking around.

"Zim, you did it!" I said excitedly.

"Of course, Kat-human. I am extremely intelligent and powerful!" he said confidently, clenching his fist. I smiled and rolled my eyes, finally having calmed down a bit. I heard movement from somewhere behind us.

"KATIE!" Gir said, running over and hugging my legs.

"Gir, you're okay!" I said happily.

"Gir! I need to see your video feed from right before you powered off." Zim demanded. He opened Gir's head and pulled out a chip of some sort. He put in into a slot and the computer screen lit up with a video footage.

A guy with a mask came in, he whacked Zim with a bat and headed into the elevator down to the lab.

"Gir! Why didn't you stop him!" Zim said in exasperation.

"I was eating a waffle!" Gir admitted, sounding pretty sad. I placed a hand on his head and Zim shook his head.

"Well this doesn't help. We have no idea who that is." Dib said flatly.

"What was his motive... I don't..." I said in confusion.

"There's nothing for us to work with here." Dib said. Zim was holding his hand to his head again. I pulled out of Dib's embrace and walked over to Zim.

"We should put some ice on that." I said, taking his wrist and gently lifting his hand so I could look at the bump.

"I don't need your human healing methods. I can heal on my own." he stated stubbornly.

"Ice isn't going to heal you, it'll just help stop the pain. Dummy." I said shaking my head. "Come on, you two. Actually, Gir put on your disguise you're coming, too." I took Zim's hand and started walking back towards the elevator. Gir put his disguise on, he and Dib followed us to the elevator.


	9. Zim and Dib Sleepover

This chapter is a little longer because it was short at first so I wanted it to be longer and now it's longer than usual. Anyways, I know where I want the plot to go but don't know how to go about getting to that point. So bear with me if these chapters suck. Also Zim and Dib are probably so OOC but I'm getting to the point where I don't even care lol.

* * *

We walked back to my house and I brought Zim into the kitchen. I opened the freezer and took out one of those ice pack things, placing it on Zim's head.

"There, that should help." I said. He didn't reply, just stood there holding the ice pack on his head. "What's wrong?" I asked, I could see something was bugging him. He was staring at the ground but when I asked that he looked at me.

"My tallest have abandoned me on this FILTHY planet and now I can't even defend against simple threats! I'm not as mighty of an invader as I try to be." he sounded genuinely upset.

"Oh Zim... no. What are you even saying? Do you hear yourself? You are THE mighty Invader Zim. You're unstoppable." I said softly, I took the hand that he wasn't using to hold the ice pack and held it tightly with both my hands. I swear I could see his cheeks become a darker green for a second until I heard Dib calling from the living room. I kept Zim's hand in mine and walked to the living room.

"Katie, I think I might have an idea of who did this. You're not going to like it though..." Dib said awkwardly. I put my free hand on my hip and tilted my head at him.

"Okay... shoot." I said, any leads at all would be good ones.

"Well... let's just say is Josh home?" Dib said slowly.

"Oh stop with this Dib, you already know-"

"Katie please, trust me on this. Is he here?" Dib asked. I sighed and walked towards the steps, keeping hold of Zim.

"Alright Dib, I trust you." I said. I let go of Zim and made my way upstairs.

I walked over to Josh's room and knocked. There was no answer, so I knocked again. "Josh, you in there?" I called.

"Uh yeah. Yep. Everything's cool. One sec!" Josh said, sounding frantic. I heard a few bumping noises and then he opened the door just a bit, his whole body blocking the room. It was pretty suspicious.

"Um why didn't you answer when I first knocked?" I asked.

"Had my earbuds in... yeah earbuds." he said with a nervous laugh. "Did you need something?"

"I just... was wondering what you're up to. We haven't really done much since we got here."

"Well you've been catching up with those old buddies of yours." he said, sounding annoyed.

"I know. I haven't seen them for five years so you have to forgive me. They just mean a lot to me. I don't know where I'd be without them. If you just-"

"If that's all you needed I think I'm going to go to bed. Night." he said and shut the door.

"Uh okay." I said, turning and heading back downstairs. Dib and Zim hadn't moved from the bottom of the steps.

"What happened?" Dib asked excitedly.

"Nothing. He was up there. He wouldn't let me see his room though. He was acting kind of weird. I... I don't know what to think." I said, shaking my head. "I don't know what's happening and I don't know if Josh is involved but for now I don't want to just throw around accusations." I said.

"Perhaps we can conduct some sort of investigation when the sun returns." Zim said thoughtfully.

"That sounds good. I'm exhausted." I said, stretching my arms up about my head.

"Alright." Dib said, looking a bit frustrated before standing up and heading towards the door.

"Wait!" I nearly squeaked, rushing towards him to grab his elbow.

"What?" Dib asked, giving me a quizzical look.

"I... don't want you guys to leave." I muttered. "Stay the night, please." I glanced up at Dib, then over at Zim.

"You make it kind of hard to say no." Dib said with a sigh, I grinned at him.

"I suppose that will make it easier to begin our investigation in the morning..." Zim said, I smiled even wider.

"Okay I'm gonna grab the sleeping bags, you guys can sleep up in my room. If you're cool with that." I said, walking over to a closet with the two of them trailing behind me.

"That's fine with me." Dib said, Zim simply made a noise of affirmation. I grabbed two sleeping bags, 2 pillows, and some extra blankets.

"Alright cool, follow me." I said, leading them up to my room. It was extremely clean, since I didn't spend much time in it. I handed the flashlight to Dib and laid the sleeping bags out on the floor, spreading a blanket over and placing a pillow on top of each one.

"Thanks Katie." Dib said appreciatively.

"Pfft you don't have to thank me. I do appreciate it though." I said, thankful for the fact that is was so dark and he wouldn't be able to see me blush. I took the flashlight from him and held it so they could get into the sleeping bags.

Seeing them all bundled up in the sleeping bags was both cute and a little funny, I giggled a bit and began to walk towards my dresser.

"Sorry I don't have any pjs for you guys." I said as I began to pull out pjs of my own and headed towards the bathroom. A sleepy mumbled word was my response, clearly from Dib. I shook my head and changed into the pjs and returned to my room to find them both fast asleep.

"Goodnight." I whispered, climbing into my bed and shutting the flashlight off before falling fast asleep.

The next morning I woke up first, as I tend to do, and went about my daily routine. Get up, shower, get dressed, make breakfast. It was as if all that stuff never happened, it also seemed that the power was back to normal. I began making pancakes and bacon while trying to wrap my head around the complicated situation I was in.

"Morning!" some said cheerily behind me, making me jump. I turned to see Josh just before he wrapped me up in a hug.

"Jeez you startled me." I said, giving him a one armed hug while awkwardly holding the spatula in my other hand.

"Heh sorry Kate." he replied, kissing the the top of my head. He was oddly cheery and affectionate today.

"No prob. Want some bacon and pancakes?" I offered. He nodded, taking one of the plates I had just put the bacon onto and bringing it over to the table. I heard footsteps before seeing Rachel enter the kitchen, on her phone again. When was she not on the phone?

"Morning Rachel, want some pancakes and bacon?" I asked her, offering the plate out for her. She took the plate and sat at the table just as someone knocked at the door.

"I got it Kate." Josh offered, walking towards the door. I continued my cooking until Josh called me. I turned off the burner and headed to the front door.

"Leah! Hey!" I said, giving her a big hug.

"Hey girl! I'm sorry I didn't come by yesterday, family wanted to get together and such. I have another family thing today but the rest of my week is clear. Want to exchange numbers and make some plans?" she offered with a grin.

"Of course!" I replied, pulling out my phone. We exchanged number and another hug before she was off on her way. Josh had returned to the kitchen to finish eating. I headed into the kitchen just before I heard someone coming down the steps. Well, two someones, Dib and Zim now joined the rest of us in the kitchen.

"Morning sleepy heads!" I said cheerily, looking over at them and letting out a laugh at Dib's hair. "Look at your bedhead! You're precious." I added. Dib grumbled and walked over to me, looking at what was in the pan.

"Mm that looks good." He said.

"Want some?" I offered, he nodded. I finished cooking what was in the pan and plopped in onto a new plate, handing it to Dib.

"Thanks Katie." he said gratefully, he sat at the table looking awkward for a moment before digging in. Zim was still standing at the entryway to the kitchen.

"Do you want some too?" I asked him, beckoning for him to come over. He hesitated for a moment before walking over to join me.

"What is it?" he asked, looking slightly disgusted.

"Bacon and pancakes. Uh pig and waffles that aren't exactly waffles? I don't know." I said helplessly, I picked up a slice of bacon and held it out towards him. "Give it a try." He seemed a bit taken aback but slowly took the bacon and bit it.

"Human food is disgusting... this is tolerable though." he said, I smiled and handed him a plate as well. He joined the others at the table and surprisingly Dib seemed relieved. I finished cooking some up for myself and Rachel got up and placed her dish in the sink, without even thanking me.

"You're welcome!" I yelled after her as I heard her putting her shoes on, probably to go out somewhere.

"Whatever." she called back to me before leaving. I let out a sigh and plopped down into the empty seat.

"She's kind of ruder than I remember." Dib said.

"Well she doesn't actually want to be here. She's changed a lot since we were here. I mean so have I but..." I trailed off, taking a bite of my pancakes. Josh seemed to be staring me, looking slightly frustrated but I decided not to comment.

"You're changed yet still the same. It's good." Dib remarked with a tiny smile. Zim glanced up at me for a moment before continuing to eat his food.

"You're sweet, Dib." I said before stuffing more food into my mouth as if I could hide my blush.

The rest of the breakfast went by in a slightly awkward manner before I picked up all the plates and brought them over to the sink to wash them. When I returned to the table Josh looked even more irritated than before, Zim looked smug about something, and Dib looked worried before noticing I had returned to the room.

"Katie! Wow thank you for that amazing breakfast!" He said with a nervous laugh.

"What's going on in here?" I asked, looking around at all of their mock innocent faces.

"Nothing, just small talk." Josh said. I crossed my arms, clearly not amused. Zim stood up and walked over to me.

"Your bump is gone." I murmured, reaching up to touch his head where it had been last night.

"I have healing abilities superior to your pitiful human ones. I told you that yesterday." he said. "Come, we have work to do." He shot a glance at Dib before looking at me again. He stood awkwardly for a moment before reaching for my hand and pulling me into the living room.


End file.
